Tapiro, 5,000 points in Israel

Meir Tapiro became last Sunday, 23 February, the 17th player to pass the 5,000 point mark in the Israeli league. With 11 points scored in a game that his team, Ironi Nes Ziona, won at home to Maccabi Ashdod for 72-61 , the legendary point guard totals 5,008 (in Israel, only regular season takes into account for historical purposes).

Tapiro -aged 38 (he'll turn 39 on March 28) and in its twentieth season active- always played in his country except for a year in French Pro A with Nancy. To understand the magnitude of this achievement, just a simple sample. He is the current all-time top scorer in activity, the only active player within
the first fifty, and along with four others (Ido Kozikaro , Moshe Mizrahi, Lior Eliyahu and naturalized Cory Carr) the only five in the top 100. He is also third in regular season games played with 444 (behind monsters like Micky Berkowitz, 469, and Doron Jamchy, 466).

In Israel's premier division the cumulated stats have been recorded from the 1995-96 season onweards. Since then, Tapiro is second all-time in rebounds (more than four per game, being point-guard), first in steals, second in three-pointers made (behind recently retired Derrick Sharp) and first in assists (with 2090, 4.8 average)... doubling the second (Yogav Ohayon, 958). And he still has one year left on his contract to continue expanding its legend.Matias Barmat (@worldhoopstats)